title: Creation of an adiposity index for children aged 6-8 years: the Gateshead Millennium Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A number of measures of childhood adiposity are in use, but all are relatively imprecise and prone to bias. We constructed an adiposity index (AI) using a number of different measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Detailed body composition data on 460 of the Gateshead Millennium Study cohort at the age of 6-8 years were analysed. The AI was calculated using factor analysis on age plus thirteen measures of adiposity and/or size. Correlations between these variables, the AI, and more traditional measures of adiposity in children were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on the factor loading sizes, the first component, taken to be the AI, consisted mainly of measures of fat-mass (the skinfold measurements, fat mass score, and waist circumference). The second comprised variables measuring frame size, while the third consisted mainly of age. The AI had a high correlation with body mass index (BMI) (rho = 0.81).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While BMI is practical for assessing adiposity in children, the AI combines a wider range of data related to adiposity than BMI alone and appears both valid and valuable as a research tool for studies of childhood adiposity. Further research is necessary to investigate the utility of AI for research in other samples of children and also in adults.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franco-Villoria
authors.forename: Kathryn N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Parkinson
authors.forename: Angela R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Basterfield
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Drewett
authors.forename: Charlotte M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Ashley J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Adamson
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000503:physiopathology; D050154:Adiposity; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055105:Waist Circumference